ephemeral echo
by 95sdawn
Summary: the camera only snaps a fleeting shot once. minasaku
1. 001

**ephemeral echos**

 _formally known as strawberry laces_

001.

she was a cute little civilian who loved to watch the medics in the hospital stitch peoples skin back together in the blink of an eye, with such concentration and silent awe etched into all of her features that the nurses couldn't possibly tell her to leave.

it was only small wounds she would be allowed to see, like someones forearm being sliced by a chopping knife or a cut on the boys pretty face from a training exercise, or even a gnash on the senseis leg that he had allowed his students to inflict on him. her wide, doe eyes would gaze at the fingers that would hover over the damaged skin with a soft green glow covering the medics hand.

it didn't matter how many times it happened, but little Haruno Sakura would always utter an applauding and ego boosting string of softly placed words that would occasionally be jumbled up into little more than a "wah..." or "woah..." with such genuine enthusiasm that the nurses would coo.

she was a cute, dainty little thing, green eyes full of wonder and pink hair barely brushing her shoulders.

and she undeniably loved to observe the new world she was thrust into.

contrary to popular belief, Sakura wasn't blind to the stares and whispers the older generation would say behind their hands in the hospital. they all said she was too little, too soft, too easily hurt (both emotionally and physically) to even withstand having high hopes of being an ninja, or even becoming a medic.

they all wanted her to stay put and be married at eighteen with a wealthy merchant who would keep her well away from harms way, and sure, Sakura, even at her young age, could see the benefits of living such a life ( _"will he provide me with chocolate chip cookies? ...he will? sure then!"_ ) but that didn't mean she had to conform to their ideals and wishes.

Sakura wanted to heal people, and if becoming a ninja and then a medical ninja and going through loses of life and seeing things that would permanently scar her to get there, then she vowed she would.

even at five, she was nothing but determined.

at eleven, she had begun to waver in her decision. it was hard to think of being such a prominent figure or even willing to save lives when she had more pressing matters in her life, but there were moments when she would hold onto that hope.

sure, the cute boy in her class had said he loved long hair, but the medics at the hospital would probably chastise her for to growing it too long lest she have to be constantly putting it out of the way while in the middle of a surgery or if it dipped into the blood on another patients open wound.

so her hair stayed cropped to her chin, and she was proud of her hair, bubblegum and bright and still, obviously, luscious. ( _"how else will Kota acknowledge me if my hair is short_ and _ugly?"_ )

at thirteen, she had gone through her first major surgery. it had been nerve-wrecking, terrifying and yet she couldn't help but slump and grin tiredly at her fellow doctor in training from across the work table, eyes lidded and the taste of blood sticking to the back of her throat.

it was well worth it.

when the patient woke up, bright _bright_ **bright** blue eyes staring directly at her and his blonde hair so messy she felt to run her fingers through it _because wow he was really pretty she had saved someone really pretty_ , Sakura was simply glowing and proud of her accomplishment. when the medics had smiled at her underneath the hand that covered their grinning crimson lips and had offered up words of praise and pride, she had never felt more complete.

the after-glow of her achievement never stopped, even as her patient, my patient she thought in near-awe, was discharged from the hospital only a few hours later.

at fourteen, a month before her birthday, she lost her first patient. it had been bloody and gruesome and there was so much blood covering the table, the body, her hands, his hands, the hands that had grabbed the front of her white cloak and smeared it splendid with a plethora of scarlet emotions and had coughed and hacked and begged her to save him.

and she had simply said she would do her best, but as she stood there in shock, days later - _"please, please medic-san save me i'm not ready to die yet save m-"_ \- trailing his name on the memorial stone, Sakura had to remember that life was something to treasure and hold onto for as long as death would allow.

when she was just shy of fifteen, her eyes skimmed the death of an Iwa soldier as she glided past him, white sandals soaking up his blood and a gurgle leaving his throat that didn't even make her bat an eyelid as she kneeled towards the Konoha ninja who sat just a few inches away.

she would never forget a shade that blue, so captivating and beautiful in a way that made her so alert and so alive that her composure as a medic nearly faulted.

nearly.

and yet she held her smile, never once wobbling nor too sharp and her hands glowed bright green, the same shade as her eyes and suddenly Sakura felt so much more alive out on the battlefield, healing the small nick on his tanned calf _(not really, it was covered in uniform and bandages but underneath, underneath it was a light tan and she really shouldn't be paying attention to such trifle matters when the nick could be infected by the enemies kunai but, wow, maybe-)_ than in the hospital surrounded by white and sterile equipment that couldn't possibly compare next to the adrenaline she worked above while pressed for time or in the medics tent or out where the shinobi play, fighting for a war that just wouldn't stop.

at seventeen she would be called to attend a festival that was being thrown by the third hokage himself, one where everyone and their grandmothers mother was invited as a result of the treaty signed by all nations that decreed the end of the third shinobi war.

standing to the side of the festival, Sakura blinked. _Namikaze Minato_ , her mind whispered, and eyes flickering over his shoulder, she watched as Tsunade gave her a drunken thumbs up while Shizune dragged her away, looking notably exasperated as usual.

eyes turning back towards the blonde whose smile hadn't slipped from his face, she raised an eyebrow.

"would you care for a dance?"

and Sakura recoiled as though she had been slapped, biting down hard on her tongue because his voice was like honey and completely different from what Katon's deep timbre or Daiki's light tone had been.

his smile still hadn't dropped, she noticed with a sense of exhilaration bubbling forth.

"sure," she shrugged, and allowed herself to whisked away in a metaphorical bundle of light and the buzz of alcohol somewhere deep in her system. or maybe it was the way his dazzling sky blue orbs stayed trained to her figure whenever she would walk to each stand in awe and childish excitement, or maybe it was the way he would tease her with that permanently stupid smile, or maybe it was the way he dropped her off at her apartment with nothing more than a thank you and maybe she was just a little more than buzzed when she grabbed the front of his fleece jacket and dragged him down for a kiss because she was goddamn tired of how tall he was compared to her.

maybe it was the height difference that made her hate him a little more than normal, or maybe it was the way he left her breathless on her own apartment door rather than the other way around.

either way, she was going to get him back.

 _(it didn't matter that she started it, she would furiously mutter to Shizune who would be hard pressed to contain her giggles at the lilies perched on her soon-to-be-broken office desk, she was going to fucking finish it)_

it also didn't matter that her anger wasn't truly anger and that the reason she was angry was the biggest bullshit he had ever heard, he would state as she grabbed the front of his jacked for a second time, but that was truly besides the point.

his apartment door was pristine white Sakura would notice as she let go of his anbu mesh shirt, dazed and smugly grinning.

* * *

uh hi. sigh the mix of tenses has me internally wailing but y'all never heard that mess from me, aight?

also, instead of just re-uploading on my other (still uploaded but discontinued, for obvious reasons whoops) fic that was the first of this series? one-shot chapter updates? continuum of my muse that yodels at the injustice of only 50ish minasaku fics compared to 10000+ sasusaku ones? i just decided to post a completely new mess.

truly lovely

it makes me cry everyday that minasaku as a crack pairing isn't appreciated enough and that basically all and every current minasaku fic is either a) abandoned, b) hasn't been updated in at least 9 years and is just collecting dust particles and the crumbs off of boms plate that she left in ygs dungeon, or c) has the worst grammar and characterisation known to man and beast.

frankly, a mess

and that's where i step in, but from uh, years of hiatus and with plots and writing that have been scrapped bc lord was that ugly. i cant even try and work the plots (that i can barely remember but that's besides the point) bc just .. no, no . i have a few plots already thought up and written down and a few chapters already in waiting but i'll give it a few before i post anything wink wink dry heave


	2. 002

**ephemeral echos**

 _minasaku_

002.

she loved playing volleyball, she realised when she was ten. hitting the ball, tossing it, making sure to catch it before it hit the floor, going out of her way to get to the ball even if it seemed impossible, seeing the bright light that only one could see when they're above the net, a breaths second away from thwacking the ball and scoring.

winning. winning, scoring, participating, enjoying, laughing, loving.

they were all emotions she felt from playing volleyball. they filled her whenever she was on the court, heart thrumming in anticipation, exhilaration and anxiety. sure, it was never easy to go to every game feeling the same emotions or getting discouraged when they fell, but when they fell they fell together, and when they rose they rose together.

blowing a stray hair out of her face, Sakura took a quick breath in.

compared to the other girls on her team (she rolled her eyes at Ino's blown kiss), she was relatively small. of course being 5'3 was small, but not compared to Kushina who stood at the stands, cheering and yelling in all her 5'0 glory. but being 5'3 compared to the rest of her teams' 5'6 and aboves, she was tiny.

tiny, but with a powerful strike.

her grin widened.

girls were catty. it was a well known fact, they were bitches. and being bitches, bitches cant help but bitch to other bitches about the bitches they encountered. whether they'd do it in front of their faces was another story entirely.

story being, Sakura was small and a middle striker. she was mostly the cause of conversation when they were getting into position, because _"how is short-fry over there a middle? she looks like she could be pushed and crumble!"_ and _"yeah of course i'm short do i look like i'm as tall as a fucking weed,"_ she'd grumble, eye twitching. causing them to all laugh, which in turn caused her to pout an grumble some more.

which then caused the crowd to talk about how she was much too cute and small to be playing with the big kids which would then trigger everything to be put into a motion again.

it was a cycle that the pink-haired striker would rather leave dead, but alas, it was never for her.

eyes snapping to the front, her orbs took in the hand signs Tenten was quickly forming behind her back, her own eyes following the ball with an intensity Sakura could relate to.

a smirk beginning to grow, she licked her lips in anticipation and then stopped suddenly.

 _"MY LIPS ARE FUCKING DRY!"_ she screamed internally, smiling nervously at Hinata who cocked her head at her, hands already curling in a familiar position she was so used to seeing.

darting forward, she ducked underneath the ball, running faster she could hear her PE shoes slapping against the floor, Karin's yelling sounding faint above her own blood roaring, Temari's laboured breathing as she stood on standby, Hinata's almost lax form making her head nearly burst in anticipation.

it was her time to shine, to seize the day, steal the game and make the momentum turn.

she could be their break.

she didn't care about their odds, that maybe it was the second half and the other team was at match point while they were five points behind, nothing mattered except for the excitement flowing through her bloodstream and the laugh she could hear from Ino on the other side of the court.

"get back guys, #N8 is their decoy! block #6, they're more likely to hit!"

faintly, Sakura could see the little upturn of her blue-haired setters lips. being underestimated was normally shit, but right now, when they could change the pace for something as little as underestimating, she didn't mind it at all.

in moments like this, being underestimated was nothing short of a beautiful sin.

"CHA!"

.

* * *

.

"did you really have to hit the ball that hard Pinky? couldn't you've gone a little gentler? now your hands all red and sore and i'll hearing about this for weeks, which is something i'd rather not do."

hair pulled back into a bun, standing and stretching her legs, Sakura blew at the stray hair for a third time and glared. why was it always in her face?

"Minato, sweetie, if you don't want to hear about it maybe you should close your ears. better yet," she turned and smiled, ignoring the way his blue eyes followed her lips. "go away."

"but i'll be bored if i do," he sighed, and immediately she was watching his bright bright bright blue eyes and wow why were they so captivating she should stop.

but she didn't.

"i don't care," lips forming into a pout, she decided to be petty and turned around again, huffing. why were they in the female locker room again?

oh yes, that's right: because she had called him in here just to complain about how sore her hands are, which then in turn caused him to start complaining to her about her complaining and wow her head's spinning maybe she should stop thinking too hard.

"oi, oi, oi, oi, oi,"

"what." she hissed, back still turned.

he smiled. "you did great out there," he whispered. Sakura wished there was noise in the locker room.

"thanks," she whispered back, all too aware of how her heart was unwillingly racing, how her veins were beginning to fill with something so familiar it nearly ached and how she just knew he had his eyes firmly placed on her body, as if she was the last person on the world.

he's done it enough times, out of the corner of her eyes she had noticed.

of course, she didn't want to acknowledge her own feelings. his? she could take that in, no pressure or hate, positive or negative emotion present. her own feelings? a whole different fucking story she had nearly snarled at Ino on a Saturday night, glaring at her phone with a furiosity that made the other line go silent.

and that was all there was to it. his feelings, or hers for that matter, were never brought up again. Ino, too conscious of the way her best friend was distressed at even the mention of the word, and Sakura for how she didn't quite know _what_ she was feeling.

"your welcome."

she breathed in, eyes suddenly squeezed shut with the sudden urge to spill her heart with eyes wide and hopeful but her mind confused, waiting, something, something

"if i told you i loved you, would you give me your heart in return?"

her heart, in turn, dropped to her knees.

she whirled around, eyes wide and hopeful ( _oh so hopeful)_ , that one stupid stupid piece of hair slapping her left eye but she couldn't find it within herself to care.

"what?"

and his eyes found hers, eyes so doe and the sky really couldn't compare to how utterly captivating they were.

"if i give you a confession, would you take it and cherish it?" a faint smirk fluttered across his lips.

she regarded him for a moment, simply taking in his form and his words. her mind sailed smoothly as if he hadn't just said something they'd been dancing around for months, her hands as composed as she had been an hour before and yet, her heart wouldn't stop jumping into her throat.

"if i gave you a confession back, would you simply stand there and do nothing to confront it?" she shot back instead, watching the way his eyes flashed dark blue and his surprised expression filtering across his face, a blank mask slipping back in place before she even had a second to wonder if she had seen correctly.

hands by his side, Minato threw his head back and laughed.

"let me be honest here Pinky, you're infuriating and i hate hearing you whine about your volleyball games," he took a step back, a smile crossing his face when she refused to take a step back in response, "but, i cant deny your whining is... tolerable."

wearily, she watched him take each step with a gaze that was unreadable.

she gazed up at him, neck nearly having to crane at the height difference. only one thought crawled across her mind, _he's so tall..._

and suddenly he was leaning down and she was sitting down, one hand grabbing the bench and the other holding her heart, shock spreading throughout her body like a wildfire.

silence. silence and nothing.

her laughed again, her heart clenched.

"i love you," he whispered, and Sakura took in his appearance, the way his hair was ruffled and his eyes were intense, his muscles tensing underneath his plain black shirt, a smile etched across his face with a certain amount of confidence that no one else could, nearly swallowing her tongue whole as she shakily murmured it back.

"i love you."

* * *

notes: i'm suffering withdrawal symptoms from haikyuu as can be seen clearly here. i stole way too many plot points or scenes or things that happened in that anime to use here, haruichi furudate forgive me lmfao

for the real fluff i had to jump on the ariana grande shit , yall been knew the deal around here butt i may or may not have been listening to im a believer by SPYAIR and amalee's english version of the same song on repeat while writing, but i think the result is quite cute. it has absolutely no correlation but fuck me if i dont somehow make it work ssksjd, which i did

wig!

honestly, i was so into writing the volleyball match that i 100% forgot i was writing minasaku whOOPS , so this had to be another 700 hundred-ish words long just to get the fluff in that we all love, want and need in our drearily short lives

minasaku ;( they're so cute get out, i can imagine minato with so many different personalities and he's so adorable in all of them smh imagine being a whole heartthrob, i cant relate. ngl, i think i have an obsession with calling minas eyes bright blue but .. i imagine them to be bright, bright and blue with so many different layers of the shade blue encased in them yk


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